Woman charged with tampering after police video camera records her actions

Staff report

WARREN

A woman arraigned Thursday on charges of felony tampering with evidence and misdemeanor drug abuse found out the hard way that there may be cameras trained on people as they sit in the back of Warren police cruisers.

Tageana D. Lofton, 20, of Merriweather Street Northwest and Ian Z. Adams, 23, of Ashtabula were detained in the back of a Warren cruiser at 1:07 a.m. Nov. 23 after an officer stopped the car they were in for speeding.

Adams had warrants, and Lofton appeared to be nervous as the officer spoke to them, the officer said.

Officers searched female clothing in the car after the two were in the cruiser, and officers found three suboxone strips, which are an illegal drug if the person possessing it has no prescription.

In reviewing the cruiser’s video footage, the officer observed that while Adams and Lofton were sitting in the cruiser, Adams removed suspected narcotics from Lofton’s pants and put it in Lofton’s mouth.

Lofton chewed it and swallowed it, telling Adams that corrections officers at the jail will find it, and she will get in trouble, according to a police report.

Lofton was arrested Wednesday and booked into the jail. Not-guilty pleas were entered Thursday in Warren Municipal Court on the two charges, and she was released from jail on a personal-recognizance bond, meaning she didn’t have to pay anything.

Adams was arrested Nov. 23 and had a hearing the next day in Warren Municipal Court on failure to appear on an earlier drug charge and two new traffic charges. Not-guilty pleas were entered, and he was released on bond.